The Colour of Isolation
by freesleep
Summary: AU. Kronos is the the all-powerful, unstoppable Lord of Time. He can fight this war as many times as needed to claim his final victory. Unfortunately, things have gone wrong. Percy Jackson has proved comically invincible, again. Sometimes, impossible problems require drastic solutions. Percy Jackson and friends magical prison non-adventures sounds just like what the Titan ordered.
1. Kronos 1

**Warnings:** This story is an **AU ONLY based the first five books**. **Any characterization that comes after is being ignored.** This project is going to feel random in tone and pacing sometimes, due to the way it was/is being written. The primary function of this project is writing practice. **This does not fit into the same genre as Percy Jackson.** This story will not attempt to mimic the Percy Jackson style. There are teenagers without supervision acting like teenagers, described non-graphically within this story. There are a reasonably improbable number of gay or bisexual characters described within this story. **The story contains both gay and lesbian characters doing gay and lesbian things.**

This story will primarily take place after an AU ending of Book 5. It will reasonably frequently change character perspectives.

This story is not part of the YA genre. As such, I don't need to rely on fridge horror visons of a terrible world to make something have stakes. If there is going to be loss or violence, there will be loss or violence. However, despite the first few chapters, this is primarily a low-action character drama.

I am planning to publish around 2000 word chapters twice a week. I am expecting the story to run for 23 chapters, finishing sometime in late august. Considering my timetable, you should not expect a continuation/sequel/spin-off this year. This means that the story will probably lack a normal narrative ending for some time.  
_

 **Start.**

I did not exist.

Then, there was power, form and time and information. These concepts imposed themselves on me, one by one, until suddenly.

I existed. I knew. I was.

There was a man with glowing golden eyes, standing next to me in an elevator.

"Shade," the voice spoke. "I am Kronos." Kronos stood tall and powerful, his voice reverberating with a double timber.

Kronos didn't move. He was addressing me. Power, given by old rights, flowed between us.

"I give you a name," said Kronos. "And you shall do my bidding. By granting form, I grant life, and by granting a name, I grant purpose. So shall it be." Kronos invoked the pact of the immemorial, that which gave me form.

There was a pause

"Luke, what should his name be?" Kronos asked.

Kronos spoke again, this time without the ring of power. "Agamedes, perhaps?" That must have been the voice of Luke. They were sharing a form.

"No, we used that one," Kronos responded. He sounded bored.

"Fine," Luke answered, tired and annoyed. "Billy Jean Alexander."

Kronos though about that for a moment. He shrugged the body.

Kronos turned a portion of his power to me.

"Your name is Bill," Kronos spoke to me.

My name Was Bill.

"When we get out of here, Bill, your job is going to be to find and hide the Ophiotaurus. Return it to me when I call you." Kronos ordered me.

I waited.

"Now, let us review," Kronos started, and then paused, stretching his hands. I could feel a whine of power in the background, the slow destruction of godly protections.

"Yes, my lord." Luke's voice spoke from the body.

"Let me rephrase that, I'm going to review, and Bill here is going to tell Coeus what happened when he finally arrives from Vegas."

"Yes," I answer.

Luke does not say anything when Kronos takes another moment to stretch.

"It is the eve of what will be called the Battle of New York. Did you get that?"

"Yes," I answer.

"Good. I am Kronos. My time powers have now returned in full, and the Gods lack the Seal of Lost Worlds. My power is unchecked like it was in the war against our father. I ascended to power in this line ten years ago. I was able to unleash some of the most powerful monsters within the underworld. With those servants, I exterminated nearly every active demigod I could find and was able to wipe out the adult demigod population entirely. The gods failed utterly at protecting their children, and eventually, Chiron's camp was the only haven for them. Following that, I started to poke and prod at the power base of Olympus."

Kronos paused to laugh.

"I found out something fantastic. The gods were utterly reliant on their demigod children to help deal with problems in a timely manner, and they did nothing to ensure loyalty from them. The demigods were already isolated and furious, even before I increased the pressure upon them. I managed to turn at least a third of them to our side, including my current host. This was valuable for several reasons, but most importantly, Olympus's main method of protection was a complex weave of prophecies. I've used my powers to gain a clear advantage in this war, and now all that remains is to take Olympus itself. I have enacted several plans leading up to this with our… information advantage. Perseus Jackson, a prophesied son of Poseidon and one of the Gods last remaining loyalists will arrive with his companions to confront me, and I will destroy him. Olympus will fall, tonight."

Kronos paused. His eyes glowed with power and rage.

He glanced at his wrist, and a watch appeared upon it. It ticked once. The elevator moved suddenly. It hadn't been moving before now, I noted.

"Note to self: The protections on Olympus from the Empire door are weaker, but still require time to breach."

He took a breath and turned back to me.

"Are you still recording this?" He asked me.

"Yes," I answered.

"This time, the war progressed mostly smoothly. I was also able to make temporary allies with several of the enemies of Olympus. We raised the pressure rapidly and made gains, though the young demigods were occasionally able to push back unexpectedly. We… usually had redundancies, but there were a couple of real setbacks."

Here Kronos paused.

"Like one of my generals getting knocked off a cliff into sharp rocks when trying to spring a trap. That wasn't part of the plan, was it Luke?"

"No, my lord," Luke answered, quiet.

"Without demigods to die for them, Olympus is falling on all fronts. The war in the east progresses at pace. We have armies presently in several places on the east coast, and Olympus and her allies are one and all under siege. The army in Florida has entirely routed enemy forces in the south. Oceanus is leading a siege of Atlantis, and a pincer has forced Poseidon to rally to his allies. Presently, I have a major force attacking New York itself, led by Hyperion. While I move on Olympus itself, I expect Olympus and what remains of the half-bloods to make a desperate defense below."

"My lord, may I suggest that we attempt to take some of the demigods alive? They could be powerful servants." Luke spoke up.

"Something to consider, but not for this battle. Most of them will survive the battle anyway, though I expect injuries,"

"I… am confused, my lord," Luke asked, confused.

"We will lose the Battle of New York, Hades himself will arrive at the last second with his forces to save the battle. Most of the demigods will survive to fight another day. The battle is a distraction."

The elevator shuddered and started moving again.

There was no other sound.

"The wards around Olympus have collapsed. I am going to deal with the prophecy. Stop recording." Kronos told me.

"Yes." I complied.

"Luke, a piece of advice."

"My lord?"

"I am a Lord of Time. Betrayal only works until I decide to inform my past self of what happened and change it. I am not at all sorry about this."

The man in the elevator started glowing gold, and Luke started screaming.

After several seconds, the glowing stopped. Kronos checked his watch.

"Well, being inside a mortal body, this isn't quite what I was expecting," Kronos spoke aloud. His movements were smooth, and his scars were golden.

The elevator came to a stop.

The door opened, looking over Olympus. Kronos set off.

I moved to find the Ophiotaurus, as was my purpose.  
_

 **Kronos** **.**

I walked out of the elevator in my new body.

A mortal poet once wrote 'Not at all similar are the race of the immortal gods and the race of men who walk upon the earth.' The insight within that quote is more than most mortals achieve in their short lives. The nature of mortals and that of immortals is fundamentally different. Most beings cannot even conceive of what it is like to be a god. To get technical, I am a titan, which is distinct from a god. But this is a distinction largely orchestrated by angry, rebellious children waving around a lightning bolt to compensate for something.

Time and memories don't quite flow the same for a more conceptual being. For a Lord of Time, this goes doubly so. Mortal flaws in judgment and, logic do not apply to me when I'm in a godly state. Even forced into a mortal form, where I'm forced to rely on the memories of my host must battle the mental corruption of mortal blood, my command of time allows me greater insight into the world then mortals can hope to understand.

It is with that godly certainty I know I was totally and completely justified in crushing the mind of this whiny, dramatic demigod it was currently residing in.

Luke was a little shit who deserved it, is what I'm trying to say.

I had run this little war before, and it had been mostly successful except for a couple of minor issues. Those issues had suddenly become major issues at my moment of triumph and had blocked me from my goal.

I, as the lord of time, have the ability to send memories back to my prior self. I could do this at the climax of my defeat or even years afterward. In this way, I cannot lose so long as my power remains unsealed.

This was the reason I, and therefore my forces were so confident. I could just try again if I lost. In the last war, several forces had conspired to defeat me, but I had laid contingencies ensuring that I wouldn't be sealed again. Outside of that, my victory was just a measure of Time. I could warp the universe with an extra exertion of my power to make the 'next round' more advantageous to me.

With this in mind, I had sent the information back, and moved to be victorious in my second attempt at the war to destroy Olympus.

That was the plan.

On the eve of attempt line 43, alteration 5e, I understood that something, somewhere had gone horribly wrong a very long time ago. To draw an expression from my Luke's mortal memories, 'there was some real bullshit going on.' Several plans (for example, a horde of magic weapons I was going to arm my forces with for this battle) had been disrupted by random demigod using information that they managed to get from dreams (despite, I will note, having the god of sleep on my side). In addition, my significantly stronger force was going to lose the 'Battle for New York'.

No matter the resources I committed, who I killed or what monster I unleashed Olympus would win that battle. This time, I simply forced all of the gods to contribute to the defense and planned it as a distraction.

I had two main plans in place, now. One of them I knew would give me time to delay at the very least. The other fell into the category of 'demigod ideas.' It was spectacularly dumb, on a level not usually conceived by immortals, but perhaps the surprise of it would allow me to carry the day.

I had spent several timelines testing. My 'demigod idea' had gone from "not even worth calling a plan" to "plan b." After this much-repeated failure, you really have to take yourself a little less seriously.

I destroyed a statue of Zeus I was walking past. Simply destroyed his stupid, smug face.

Let me tell you, having a body and no whiny demigod traitors sharing headspace really helps the mood. I was nearly joyful. The mortal brain chemicals are really something special.

Even to a titan as mighty as myself, there was some risk to mental corruption from wearing a form like this.

I marched forward into the kingdom of the gods, whistling some pop song Luke had liked.

I blew up another statue.

I was also wrecking things because I'm petty. We all have flaws.

It was worth the use of godly power.

Luke's latent influence on my mind was very real, but it didn't change the fact that he was right about this place really needing a 'God of Good Design Choices.' Gold on gold on white, the Olympians must be allergic to taste.

I was most of the way up the mountain when two minor godlings stepped in front of me in a spectacular display of tactical competence and announced their presence with some sort of declaration. I really could not give less of a shit. I tuned out what they were saying, while simultaneously noticing that their posing left a rather serious vulnerability open.

A digression, the concept of completely unchanging gods, isn't true at all. Over as many attempts as I've had, you do learn new things.

For example, you both learn how to put up with the endless daddy issues of bitchy demigods, and then you learn to crush their mind and take over their body once they do something stupid like, say, getting knocked off a cliff in an extremely simple mission, again.

I wasn't bitter in the least about the competence of my minions.

On a more relevant note, you also learn things like how to slow time around yourself and then launch forward and stab two overhyped minor god pieces of garbage. Right in their throats, one after another.

I left them to the important task of drowning in their own blood. Let me tell you, that is a wholly unpleasant time. The left one gurgled something at me. I used my power to drop a statue on him without looking back.

Hasta la vista, baby.


	2. Kronos 2

This story will probably update Wed/Sun unless I mess something up.

 **Kronos**

As I came up to the utterly oversized and pointlessly temple of the gods at the top of the mountain, I took a moment to set it on fire. It was actually a non-trivial expenditure of power at this junction to make the solid marble building burn without just slagging the whole thing.

It was worth it.

I strolled into the temple after giving the doors an appropriately dramatic kick, somewhat expecting no-one to be there. Instead, there was a roar as a very angry man charging me, a small girl in the corner, and a somewhat larger woman hiding behind her. It seems like Ares was able to collect enough of his insides to come and fight me.

"Face the god of war!" he roared at me, full twenty feet of Olympian berserker roaring as he approached me at a speed people who can't control time would probably call 'fast'. If this had been Luke running the body, he would have been pulped.

But it was not Luke running the body.

It was delightful to see the moment of confusion on his face when what looked like Luke's body dodged his attack. Ares had been weakened by weeks of fighting with my forces. He was hoping to kill a demigod in an ambush, Luke having previously challenged him to a fight. He was in no shape for God level combat.

Ares lunged forward, cratering the floor with a hammer blow as I warped space and stepped back. His weapon shifted into some form of massive gun. I warped space again, so the projectiles flew to either side of me. The bullets exploding on impact with the floor behind me.

He warped the weapon back into a spear and lunged forward again. His leg, however, was injured. That gave me an opening. I dropped a gravity trap behind me, stepped through more space, and suddenly I was attacking him from his weak side.

We exchanged serval blows, the air exploding between our weapons as we made contact. As he extended past me I rolled forwards, and we had suddenly swapped places. Then, on his next attack I slammed his weapon to the side and jumped into the air. My much smaller form slammed into his chest with a kick, a warping of space preventing his other arm from blocking me. He flew backwards, right into my trap.

"A practical demonstration on the theory of everything. Time is equal to space which becomes force." I informed him as the trap slammed his massive form into the ground with massive unrelenting force and grounds his face into the polished marble floor. After a moment, he went both crack and squish. It was a sickly satisfying sound.

One unexpected problem solved.

I turned my attention to the other presences in the room. As they had yet to attempt to pull a weapon on me, I decided this was the Time for negotiations.

"And who might you be?" I asked the girl in front, knowing the answer but wanting to get a feel for the mood of the room. The nymph that hid behind her was below my notice on just about every level, but her squeak drew my attention for a moment. The girl spoke up, returning my attention to her.

"Don't you recognize me, father?" she spat at me.

Mood gauged. She was somewhere around totally furious. Negotiations have failed. I need to waste a few moments while my shade completed his theft. I look into Luke's memories for how he would do it.

Banter. That usually works for stalling. Perfect.

"Hestia, it's a pleasure. Look, we never had a chance to talk, how is the virgin goddess kicked off the Olympian council working out?"

"Better before you decided to show up again, but you seem to have a fondness for ruining everything I love."

I resent that.

"Look, I want you to know I've learned my lesson about fighting futures, I think we can work something out."

"Choke and die" She told me, somewhat missing the point of us both being immortal.

"The baby eating thing is past me now, really. I can even offer you a step up if join me."

"And I want you to know I hate you, and I think everything would be better off if-" This is the point I stopped listening, several centuries have given my daughter some rather compelling curses to direct at my person. Some were even insulting.

"...right then, I can see we are going to have a couple issues working something out. Are you planning to actually fight me here?" I asked, with a small movement towards the much-more-injured-than-before god of war.

"No. No, I'm just going to be here, watching you fail. Your defeat is coming, father." I pause at her tone, arctic and spitting acid, for a second.

"If you enjoy being the goddess of lonely virgins, be my guest I suppose." I had moved into snide.

"I'm going to enjoy your screaming in the Pit." Fine. I can see when diplomacy isn't going to work.

"Just for that, I'm going to make sure you show up as a ditsy love interest in a stupid harem comedy in the next decade." Her jaw drops, and I move towards the thrones.

What I'm not telling her is I set that in motion about a week ago. I can plan ahead just fine. I suppose based on her expression, the whole thing was worth it.

Petty? Probably. I assure you she deserved worse.

Thousands of years in the Pit, I remind you. Perhaps one might find my repeated emphasis on this point droll. Thousands of years. Every moment, every second occupied by a thousand different tortures, each one to a different part of my body which had been sliced into pieces. No breaks. No allies, no distractions. Simply the endless torture of the Pit. I think I was understandably absolutely and completely furious.

I settled in to wait as Hestia and her friend took Ares and left the room. I let them. With a pulse of my mind, I find the shade hiding itself and the sacrifice. I tried whistling. I hummed a little song Luke knew. I adjusted my weapon. Mortal brains get bored shockingly fast. That whole encounter was supposed to take longer.

I smash the thrones. Violence felt fantastic. Mortal brain chemicals really are something.

I looked around. The smashed gate to the temple lays on the polished floor, splinters of metal still floating down. The temple lies mostly in smoldering ruins, the symbol of Olympian power in ruins.

Time magic makes some of the best backdrops.

I didn't have to wait all that long really, and my opponent for this little dance comes storming in. I'm standing facing away from him as he enters, as the sight of my golden eyes sometimes drives him to attack right away.

As I turn, I realized that he has stormed up here with a small war party. Within tolerances, though not exactly what I was expecting. I have more than enough power to handle this. There less than dozen demigods in the room, and some of them glow with the power of the Hunters. Many are wounded, some badly and one is on the verge of death already. Pathetic.

I immediately cast a spell to block outside interference. Once again, I needed to delay while the spell comes into force.

There is more silence, and I sigh internally. Must I drive all these confrontations? Ah well, banter it is, with a side of dramatic reveal.

"Jackson, I see you have arrived for our little meeting. You even brought friends this time. I hope you didn't run the whole way, it's a long way up. Did you like my redecorating?" I open.

The golden ichor from my last battle lays on the floor. It splashes slightly as Jackson steps in it, striking a suitably heroic pose. "Are we doing banter? Is that what we're going to do?" Jackson was as dependable as he was lucky. He had decided to join in my little banter rather than fight immediately. Past encounters had shown that Jackson was tactically unpredictable, but very likely to all into the same patterns.

"I suppose I can indulge you. The war has been won. The gods have lost on a tactical, strategic and diplomatic level. Atlas is free again and bringing an actual legion from the west coast, and large forces are rallying in both Boston and Philadelphia. They will be here within the day for a second push."

I don't tell him about Atlantis or Vegas. Never give up everything when you're monologuing.

"I'm going to end this, right here, right now. Anyone have a hair brush?" Percy responded, tone full of bravado. He's posturing to fight. I need more timeI ignore the hairbrush comment. Incidents involving them happened in too many loops for any rational explanation.

"Luke's incompetence will not hamstring me this time. I had to do some reorganisation of my staff, but I feel it's for the better. Your former friend isn't here anymore." I told the demigodsSeveral of them gasped in outrage. I love a responsive audience.

I suppose the dramatic reveal is up.

"I'm assuming you're referring to the prophecy? A prophecy like that, especially one executed by you does seem like it could be a problem for me. Fortunately, you are not the child of the prophecy Perseus Jackson. Not today."

His arm tightened, and he fingered his sword while the rest of the demigods spread around the room.

"I'm going to send you back to Tartarus myself." Jackson answered seriously. Weapons were drawn.

I smiled at them. I smiled the smile of a man happy, with a happy a plan that actually worked. The other demigods tensed at the sides of my vision, but I was looking directly at Jackson. He looked back into my golden eyes, resolute.

"Perseus Jackson, is this any way to treat a friend?"

"Like Luke was your 'friend?' I think we both know exactly how friendly things are between us." Jackson had realized something was going on and was about to engage.

"No, Perseus Jackson, not at all. You see, I cut a deal with Calypso." That cut him short. Better.

"I'm not sure she knew about it, but she played her part. Do you remember her, Hero?" He was considering me intensely, trying to understand 'my game'. Everyone else was being very kind and just watching our conversation, more than a sword length apart in a loose net. This was going pretty well.

"Perseus Jackson, you see after you decided to eat a volcano while attempting to oppose me, I granted you a gift. With a touch of aid from our dear friend Calypso, it started to take effect. It has been made fully active as of..." I took a moment to look at my watch.

"Five days, Six hours and twenty-four minutes."

Now everyone was on guard and watching Percy and I. You could cut the tension with a sword made out of an immortal soul. Lucky that Jackson had one of those hanging around.

"You know, I tried a huge number of ways to kill you. I doubt you know about even a fraction of them. They all failed. Let it not be said that Kronos cannot learn from his mistakes, however. When I realized that something was really and truly preventing me from killing you, I made a practical choice Perseus Jackson. The gods showed me the solution.""What did you do." Jackson demanded. I had them all tense and curious now.

"I granted you a form of immortality. You are not the child of the prophecy, Perseus Jackson. You're not sixteen. You stopped aging several days ago. This war will continue, and I will bleed my enemies to dust. My plan here tonight has already finished."

Everyone in the room looked at me, wide eyed. The golden ichor on the floor rippled once.

The plan was surprisingly simple, though there were a number of flaws that had taken a few wars to fix. The problem now was that the immortality could be removed by one of his godly allies, and he would just finish the war slightly later. Attempts? to grant him actual godhood had been an unmitigated failure.

That was why I had the second half of the plan.

"What?" Jackson asked, sounding very confused.

"Jackson, you just finished diving into a god level hurricane monster in case you didn't notice. Dip in that "special river" or not, you would have died." That part was a lie. Jackson was invincible for reasons beyond me or a river.

The half-bloods gasped. I smiled wider.

"Now I think you understand the present situation. This war will not be decided today. In a long-term struggle against an injured enemy with a disconnected high command I feel I have an advantage. This advantage is improved by the fact that my enemy also gets its best fighting force by failing to keep it in their pants, and then being deadbeat parents." I tell them.

"You would know something about being a deadbeat parent, I guess?" Jackson countered. The fighting spirit had stalled, and the banter was on auto-pilot.

"I consider myself an expert." I replied, "You will, however, also notice a lack of 'Son of Kronos' demigod children running around. For one thing, I'm faithful to my marriage, despite some... disputes" I lied.

No one responded to my bait, but the demigods looked furious. Perhaps reminding them of their status as Olympian bastards was not the best recruiting move. I moved on.

"For another, I don't feel any need to rape, coerce or overwhelm a mortal with power until they let me bend them over. Unlike your parents." This part was actually true. The idea of sleeping with a mortal had always seemed somewhat questionable in general to me.

"So, I will say this again. I offer anyone who joins me now immortality. I will also remind you that as opposed to your parents, I have never exterminated the human race." Once again, this part was true. The fact that the mortals were somehow fighting for the gods was a PR coup the likes of which I could hardly comprehend.

They didn't seem convinced. I sighed. Jackson opened his mouth for a retort, but…

The spell was ready. Banter time was over.

 _A flash of white._


	3. Kronos 3

Irl hits like a truck sometimes. This was actually ready a while ago, but I was unable to get it too my beta. Makeup chapter will be Friday. To whoever pointed out that I was using the wrong Greek Time God, thanks sometimes I am dumb. Next two chapters are a little shorter because the others were longer. ****

**Kronos**

Most of my godly power is left in the barrier. I stop for a moment to start a loop. Here, I am unstoppable. No mistakes, no lucky blows. We will do battle. I will be victorious, or it will never occur. This is the power of Time.

For a moment, I simply drift within my power. Then I am slammed into the present as the wards come to full power. Now it was just us in here. No allies coming, and no escape.

"I suppose the gods told you something about me killing mortals. Look, join me and you can be in charge of them, or split duties with Prometheus or something. I don't really care that much." I told them. "I will remind you that my stance is opposed to the gods, who go out of their way to make things worse for mortals, usually out of spite." They come by it honestly.

"I see, it's a good offer. Did Luke think of that? How's he doing, these days?" Jackson responded, as he moved forward to do battle.

Fine. The Luke part of my brain wanted me to keep trying. The functional part of my brain had a different plan. It was go Time. I cracked my neck and readied my blade.

"Fine. Let it be known that I tried. It is Time, Perseus Jackson. I will enjoy this."

The demigods around me raised their weapons again, and into stance to fight me, swords and spears pointed, and arrows notched. The fun part of being a titan in a mortal body was that I didn't have to obey all the same rules as the other gods. The most relevant advantage provided? My body is that of a demigod. I obey their rules, not those of immortals, because this body could be killed.

In other words, I can hit first. I unleashed my remaining unused power, and Time Bent. My body stood in a frozen world. The air, once filled with the smell of Olympian power and the soft wood smoke of a hearth, now had the faint smell of rotting snow. The taste of ambrosia and electricity in the air intensified. I looked over the massive temple, laid out in a semi-circle so that someone in the center would see nothing but the oversized figure of the gods around them. With smashed and smoldering thrones on all sides, I fingered my sword. The sky (which was visible through the broken door), had gone a bitter white.

Nine demigods moved to do battle. They had surrounded me on all sides except directly behind me, leaving no real escape route. This was a mistake.

Greeks fought in position to support one another, not this action-movie split. I will show them why.

I looked at Thalia Grace, the new leader of the Hunters, drawing her bow to my left. I Step.

I am suddenly next to her. I use my back foot, already in motion, to kick her in chest with power that would crater it. She twists to the left, her forward foot sliding as she dropped her shoulder, using the weight of her bow to get out of the way faster. Her other hand is already drawing a dagger, looking to get a slash in. I clip her with the kick, it sends her spinning through the air, several ribs and a shoulder broken. I can already feel two other arrows soaring towards me, and so I twist and look. I see William Solace across the room, the young son of Apollo, still notching his arrow. I Step.

I am next to him and I use the momentum of my little twist to bring my sword up towards him, crashing into the bow he used to block the strike to his neck. Splinters fly, and as he moves for an arrow to stab me. I grab his throat with my free hand, crush, and send him flying into Nico di Angelo, who had moved to hit me from behind. Seven left.

The white sky shimmers as I bend around an arrow. Another is in flight towards me. Two bows left. I Step.

Cyrene Megalos knows where I am going as soon as I move, and lashes out with a dagger as I arrive. I block with the edge of my sword, held out in fencer's position. I punch forward with my back hand, and she deflects it with her bow, which partially explodes in impact. I am not idle, my forward foot coming up to give her a brutal knee to the chest. Knocked into the air, she starts turning, and tries to bleed the momentum with a handspring. I put a stop to that, and smash downwards on her with my sword pommel while she is still twisting in the air. The blow is clean, and it slams her downwards. There is an echoing 'Crack'. I Step, before she hits the ground with a wet slam and silent scream. Six remain.

I arrive next to Malcolm Pace as he prepares to throw his spear. He alters the throw into an overhanded attempt to stab me in the face as I arrive, but his open guard lets me put sword in his gut. I dodge the spear with a twist of my head. The twist allows me to both see Perseus Jackson closing fast, immortal sword in hand, and Carnation Aspasia loosening another arrow behind him. I turn slightly farther, and I find a different target. I Step.

Sword red with blood, I bring a powerful overhand towards Silena Beauregard, the badly injured warrior from before. I recognize her magical sword, the stolen weapon is the only thing keeping her on her feet. As she blocks the blow, I push down and to the side as I bring my back foot forward, twisting my wrist hard and then suddenly pushing outwards. The technique was one of Luke's favorites, and it sends her sword flying. As she collapses with a scream, Four. I Step.

Carnation Aspasia, the last hunter standing, moves back and drops her bow, swinging with her slightly curved sword as I arrive. I block and step forward. She twists back, using an upward swing with the blade and some fancy footwork to try and make space. I let her. I Step.

It leaves her open, and I instantly close the distance and into her again and smash her in the throat while she's still whirling. Last bow down. I leave her to drown, and as I look over I see the Son of Hades standing up again. I Step and jump.

I arrive next to him still in the air, and my foot smashes into his still rising face. There are several cracks. I have little doubt it is instant death as I turn towards the last two. Jacob Mason, son of the Blacksmith, holds an ax and shield, watching me, not leaving vulnerabilities. He doesn't understand what he's dealing with. I Step.

I slam into the shield he is crouching behind at full force, and his stance does little to protect him from my raw power. With a crunch, he is hurled into his father's throne, resulting in a wet smacking sound.

It's just us now Jackson. I turn. Perseus Jackson is in the center of the room, looking enraged but focused. I Step.

He is on me instantly as I arrive. Utilizing vicious tight swings and stabs that don't give me enough room to use my massive strength or enough time to disarm him. He attacks six times, stepping forward each time as he pressures with the sword in one hand, the other using his invincible skin as if it were a shield in the other. My attempted knee is deflected with his arm, and he presses forward. I Step.

I arrive behind him, already twisting to stab him in the back when I'm suddenly hit by lighting. Lightning is as close to instant as possible, and the strike forces me to pause as my muscles freeze. Thalia Grace wasn't quite dead apparently, despite ribs in her lungs. Children of Zeus are irritating like that. Jackson is on me again, sword glinting. He presses forward, swings one, twice and then hits me under my arm on a backswing.

It is a lucky blow, almost impossibly so. It is the only time I am hit. For this body, it is a crippling blow. Jackson landed a single strike in the single location on this body that would deal crippling damage.

This. I don't know how to deal with this. Pit, I am furious.

I will destroy them. Luck will not save the demigods forever.

That future is erased. We will do this again.


	4. Kronos 4

Kronos

A flash of white and green.

I decided to just make a weaker time barrier and allow myself to use some of my stronger godly powers this time. [this doesn't quite parse for me, this wasn't a spur of the moment decision was it? he set it up in advance. I'd reference that]

The sky outside shimmered with white and blue, arctic waves over endless sky, an artifact of the isolation.

The demigods still thought we were in banter mode. I didn't warn them of the change. Casually spreading my arms just wide enough to catch the demigods edging behind me, I unleashed a wave of pure power, following up with a warping of space.

The silver wave hit instantly, and the entire war party of demigods were slammed backwards, the warped space making my magical attack impossible to dodge as it crossed the room instantly. The air was full of screams for a moment, and then quiet.

Cheating made everything better.

I waited only long enough to confirm everyone who wasn't named Jackson died instantly. In a surprising turn, blunt force trauma with a little extra is magical firepower actually just kills demigods. Hammer and Anvil.

This is why you do not challenge a Titan.

I focused on my remaining opponent, leaping upwards, and come down like a meteor. Landing behind him and missing by mere inches, I followed up with a solid slam, looking for a kill shot. Perseus Jackson staggered back, but his invulnerability protected him from most of the harm.

I stepped after him, slamming a hammer blow into Jackson like a fist from the heavens, and the marble floor cracked as I drove him into it.

He kipped up, armor shattered around him, and frantically retreated trying to make space. I didn't allow him the chance, smashing into him with greater force, forcing him further back. A grin cracking across my face, I pursued with an instant kick, warping the space between us to nothing. This was more fun than I had anticipated.

Warping space again to catching Jabkson as he flew, I twisted and launched him in a different direction. Relishing the thunderous crack as he smashed into a wall near the entrance, away from the thrones. I want no chance of outside help from the gods from one of those broken thrones.

The stray though was enough to give Jackson the reprieve he needed. I moved forward, fast, but Jackson managed to get his sword up, deflecting what otherwise could have become a killing blow, and then he was back on his feat again.

Momentum lost, I drew back for a moment, hoping to force Jackson into a vulnerable spot. The fool actually charged me then, pushing off the ground, sword held low. Perfect.

Then something stabbed me in the back. Or rather tried to. It glanced off me, and I sent a wave of force back, raising my arm, and I feet backwards with my power. There was an invisible demigod there.

I forgot about Annabeth Chase. I realized now the blond next to him originally hadn't been Chase. It had been the Aphrodite girl, one who should already have been dead.

Blonds.

Chase was a distraction.

Jackson, still incoming swung upwards fast and low. It caught me under the arm, going upwards into my body just before I could Step back from Jackson.

I had now been hit by three blows today. I had one spot on my body that's vulnerable. Two of them had been kill shots. [I think you should express this more clearly]

I felt rage.

Jackson dies. Jackson will die today. I will cripple him, take back his immortality and END HIM.

I erase time. A flash of green, with a swirl of white, and I slam into the present, no detachment. No barrier this time. All of my power, here. Now. No mercy, I'm going to annihilate Jackson's friends in front of him, and then burn his immortal body.

I draw my power.

The white marble walls and floors shimmer black. The air tastes like rime and forgotten power, oily with sins and old blood. The golden ichor, lying on the floor, ripples. One, twice. It burns black. The world starts to melt and crackle. It turns black.

Playtime is over.

I shift all of us, making sure to catch the invisible bitch behind me. The world around us drains of all color, and for a moment I look into the endless sky above us. It is black, and endless starts twinkle. The kingdom I took from my father. Space.

I bend space around us, and bring his kingdom to us, instantly. The demigods who had been preparing to fight are suddenly hit with a terminal case of explosive decompression. I gaze over my realm of black. I don't need air to breath, and there is none within this forgotten realm. They do. They die.

Perseus Jackson stands back up, and I turn to look at him. He's glowing with the flame of granted power. Something is protecting him. Hestia. But that shouldn't change the fact that there is no air. Yet Jackson seems unbothered. Can you just put Styx water in your lungs and no longer have to breathe?

I'm flabbergasted. I'm furious. This is stupid. I grab him with power, and slam him up and then down, cratering him into the black marble floor.

He seems remarkably unbothered. He breaks the hold of my invisible grasp and charges me, the bodies of the other demigods around us, and suddenly I'm on fire.

There is still no oxygen in space. Yet I burn anyway. I scream in rage.

Hestia is at the door of the room and can set people on fire. I don't know if you've ever been on fire before. Some people might say it makes you want to die. This isn't true for me. Instead I want everyone else to die. I scream in hate, in rage, in pure fury and raise my arm to slam her instead.

Jackson surges forward, right through my bubble of force protecting me, the glowing godly blessing he had allowed him to smash through my protections. This is typical.

As I rapidly try and switch targets, he catches me with a slash.

Under my raised arm.

I.

HATE.

IN WAYS YOU CANNOT EVEN CONVINCE.

Whew. Mortal bodies _sure are a rush._

Calm now. Very calm.

Fine. Fine, this is fine, I have a new plan. Removing all oxygen wasn't good enough. Fully new plan.

I erase time.

I decide that fighting just isn't going to work. I dropped a barrier just strong enough to keep Hestia on the outside. We're using plan b.

No one wants me to use plan b.

I have been driven to this.

"I suppose the gods told you something about killing mortals. Look, if you want, join me and you can be in charge of them, or split duties with Prometheus or something. I don't really care that much." I went back to bantering my lines.

"I can look and see what happened to Luke, how dum-" Jackson started. He changed his script.

I scream in rage. "Luke was a total shit and deserved this, trust me. Look, I'm the god of time here, what do you want? Do you want to kill Hitler? I can send you to do that." I was fudging the truth a little. Maybe. I hadn't really tried.

"I'm pretty sure that would just lead to a Nazi takeover, I watched a movie on this." Jackson responded, the classic demigod sidetracking kicking in, but he was more then ready to fight.

"What if I give you get a shot at a bunch of bankers who are going to crash your economy? You can save your country a huge problem." He couldn't, actually, as you can't fix structural financial issues as a sixteen-year-old with a sword. I chose to avoid mentioning that.

One of the other demigods spoke up. "If you could really time travel, I think you would have used it by now. How did you lose?"

In a exemplary show of restraint, I don't instantly murder him. With dark hair and dark eyes and a stench of death, I could feel the power of the young son of Hades.

I paused for a moment. This was a problem. He looks under sixteen. The prophecy. Fine.

I had a plan. Some small alterations are required.

"You're making an incorrect assumption that I have not, in fact, time traveled already. A son of Hades, is it? You children keep popping out of nowhere. You know what? I'm a generous ruler. I think I have a solution to this. And with that, I released a wave of golden power, in every direction. I bent space, so it hits instantly.

I can take a hint. I learn from my mistakes. At this point, I understood what would have happened here. I was going to lose this battle. Something stupid would happen, and I would lose. I will not play this game. I was playing this one smart, even if it took a good amount of power. Fortunately, I could just steal power the Olympians had left lying around.

I watched the result of my little gift. It was worth watching their souls change. It looked painful, which I was enjoying. Three of them were having strange interactions between this and their Hunter magic, and something real weird was going on with Jackson. Immortality had applied twice? Maybe? Even I wasn't sure what was going on. It was strange anyway, like he had an extra part-immortal soul attached to him. I didn't really care anymore.

"You know, I think a lot of our problems here come down to communication. Maybe if we could just understand each other a little better, we could get along. I have a gift for you." I told the staggering half-bloods.

They were busy with the screaming.

"I've granted you immortality. I think we're going to get to know one another quite well. You have a part my power within you now. No more aging. No more dying to monsters. Immortality." Actually, I just tied their life-force to an immortal prison in a way that would functionally grant immortality. Far more power efficient, and they wouldn't know the difference.

Probably. Not my problem, either way.

The now immortal troupe of demigods all looked at me, in various silly poses from trying to dodge the wave, jaws agape, trying to understand if I was serious. That was, clearly, the moment that Jackson decided that banter hour was over. So close.

"I think I'm just going to kick your ass." Jackson brought up his sword, and I sighed.

"Must it always be violence?" I asked. Jackson ignored me.

I gathered power, raised my sword and decided on my last bit of banter.

"This war between us is done, Jackson. The gods will never allow you to escape if they can help it. Not when I have elevated you." I raised my sword as the demigods started to move in slow motion towards me, I gathered my power into my watch.

And I stabbed this body in the chest. Luke had just been promoted from chief puppet to chief sacrifice. It was magic time. With my power flowing at its maximum out of the body and in my last few seconds of control, I smashed the watch on my wrist open.

Then the body exploded.

Time broke.

Then reality broke.

And I was free.

It had worked.

The storm arrived.


End file.
